Tomorrow Will Be Kinder
by Rosebud5
Summary: Fourteen-year-old Finnick wakes up screaming one night after the Games, throwing himself into a full blown panic attack… And only loving Mags, with the few words she shares and the gentle gestures she is known for, can bring the young Victor back to the ground and remind him that tomorrow will be kinder.


Hey again guys… It's me… Again… Heh...

It's finals week and what am I doing?

Publishing one-shots.

Yup.

I'm fixing to break help.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Hunger Games for I would be rich and Finnick would live. Also I do not own "Tomorrow Will Be Kinder" the song.

~Rosey

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**Tomorrow Will Be Kinder**

"_PLEASE STOP! PLEASE! I'M SO SORRY!"_

"Finn!" Mr. Caspian Odair gently shook his sleeping son's shoulders, trying to wake Finnick up from the night terror plaguing the young Victor. "Finn, it's okay, son! You're home, you're not in the Arena!"

"I didn't mean to kill her! I'm so sorry!" the boy twisted mercilessly in his father's hold, a sweat soaking through his shirt and sticking his copper hair to his forehead. "No, please! **_No!_**"

"Please, Finn, it's okay, you're okay! You're safe!" Caspian begged desperately as he continued to try and wake his son. "Please, Finn, you're safe, I promise…"

"Caspian," a raspy yet strong voice silenced the older man's words, though the boy in the bed continued to twist and scream desperately. Mr. Odair turned to see Finnick's elderly mentor, Mags, standing in the doorway of the room wrapped in a fluffy robe. She lived in the house next door in the District Four Victor's Village, and Caspian winced at how loudly his son's screaming must have been to wake her up from so far away.

"Mags," Finnick's father got to his feet and hurried over to her. "He won't wake up, Mags, I can't wake him up…"

Silently, the old woman simply put a finger to her lips, shushing Mr. Odair wordlessly before she slipped over to Finnick's bed side, kneeling down by it and gently reaching out a hand to touch his hair soothingly. Caspian watched in awe as his son almost instantly stopped screaming, and moments later stopped thrashing so violently. And a heartbeat after that, the fourteen-year-old bolted upright in the bed, eyes wide, gasping for air and shivering violently. Still not saying a word, Mags gently clasped Finnick's face in her hands, stroking his cheeks with her thumbs, until his panicked sea green eyes met her soft ones of brown.

"M-Mags?" he whispered in a tiny, hoarse voice, his body trembling painfully.

"Finnick," she offered him a small and loving smile, wiping her sleeve over his forehead to remove the sheen of sweat there. "It was a dream. You're safe."

"I… I'm…" he looked around, still gasping for air as he tried to take in his surroundings.

"Finn?" Caspian spoke up softly, desperate to take his son in his arms but wanting to make sure the boy was aware enough that it wouldn't induce another panic attack. "You're okay, son. You're not in the Arena. You're home, in District Four."

"District…" Still seemingly unable to grasp that he wasn't in the Games, Finnick was grasping the sheets with shaking white knuckles, gulping to breathe.

"Home," Mags said simply as she gingerly removed his hands from the blankets and took them in hers. She didn't even wince at how tightly he gripped her fingers in his. She only turned to Caspian and asked in a once again simple tone "Warm tea?"

"Of.. Of course," Mr. Odair nodded quickly, hesitating long enough to reach over and press a kiss into Finnick's hair before stepping out to fulfill Mags's request.

Once they were alone, Mags turned back to face Finnick again, who had begun to weep quietly, though he tried to hide it. Quietly, the elderly lady reached over and brushed his tears away, causing him to peek up at her through clouded eyes. She offered him a gentle smile before speaking softly. "Tell?"

Finnick swallowed thickly as he tried to control his shaking. "I… I don't know how you've survived so long after you won the Games, Mags… I don't want to anymore I… I want to walk out into the waves and vanish and…"

"Hush that," Mags's face hardened and she put a hand to Finnick's cheek again, looking at him seriously. "Love."

"I love you too, Mags, but…"

"Survived with love," she interrupted him, putting a gentle hand over his heart. "Annie."

"Annie…" the copper haired boy breathed as he looked up at her in surprise. "You… You know about Annie?"

"Mmmhmm," the older woman nodded. A smile crept across her face. "Also Caspian and I."

The younger Victor blinked before giving the smallest of nods. "I love you both too."

"Live," Mags whispered reverently, pressing her hand closer against his heart. "And talk."

"A-about the… The nightmare?" Finnick's voice trembled as he began to shake again.

The white-haired woman simply nodded as she reached out to brush his hair back from his forehead. The boy took a shuddery breath and looked away again, this time out the window towards the ocean. He was quiet for a long while before he found his voice.

"I… I was back in the arena and I was with my ally from District Five and… Mags, I didn't mean to kill her it was a mistake she slipped and I left my trident just laying there and…" he squeezed his eyes tightly shut at the memory, still so fresh in his mind before carrying on. "Mags, I killed four people in that Arena. Four children who just wanted to go home to their families and I couldn't… I killed them and… I'm such a monster, Mags, I'm a monster…" And with those words the dam broke, and tears started pouring a fresh as he choked on the rest of the words. "Y-you d-d-didn't even kill anyone i-in your G-Games, M-M-Mags! N-not one! Y-you just hid the whole t-time and that f-fire killed the other three tributes left! A-and I d-d-din't want to kill anyone Mags but I wanted to go _home__…_"

"Finnick," Mags's simple voice gently cut his sentence short as she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Shh. Safe. You're safe."

It was then that a worried-faced Caspian returned with three warm cups of tea and a small plate of sugar cubes. Mags smiled at him warmly as he sat the treats on the nightstand, reaching for a sugar cube rather than a cup of tea, turning back to Finnick and offering him the sweet. "Sugar cube?"

The copper haired boy peeked up through his tears at the woman before him before shyly and shakily reaching over to take the sugar from her and sliding it between his lips, letting the sweet taste melt on his tongue. For half a moment, he still looked upset and scared, but then a tiny smile touched his lips, returned warmly and lovingly by Mags and Caspian.

"Okay?" Mags whispered softly to him as Caspian shifted so he could envelop his son into the hug he had been longing to give all night long.

Finnick buried against his father as closely as possible, pausing for a moment before reaching over and taking one of Mags's hands in his. He was silent for a second until, finally, he found his voice.

"Okay."

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UGH I just love their relationship and there's not enough about it in this world. I hope you all enjoyed! Please, please REVIEW!

~Rosey


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